ANTIARIS INNOXIA. (Nat. order Urticeje.) 



ANTIARIS, Lescken.— GEN. CHAR- Flowers monoecious. Male involucre many- flowered many-leaved, leaflets imbricate connate at the base 

 surrounding an orbicular flat or convex receptacle, florets sessile dense-packed, perianth o£ 3-4 spathulate leaflets connivent towards the apex, stamens 3-8 

 ou a flat receptacle, filaments obsolete or very short, anthers extrorse 2-celled. Female involucre 1-flowered, urceolate many cleft at the apex, perianth none, 

 ovary connate with the involucre 1-celled, ovale 1 pendulous from the apex of the cell anatropal. Style terminal bifid the divisions filiform stigmatose, 

 drupe formed of the baccate involucre, seed pendulous, Embryo exalbuminous ortbotropal, cotyledons large fleshy ovate plano> convex smooth, radicle very 

 short superior. Trees, leaves simple alternate stipulate, peduncles axillary. 



A-NTIAMS INNQXIA. (Blume.) A gigantic tree up to 250 feet in height and of enormous girth, leaves oblong-elliptic 

 dentate serrulate or entire, scabrous, about 6 inches long by 2-2J inch broad, petioles 3 lines long. Male flowers with 3-8 stamens, the 

 perianth leaves generally 4 obovate spathulate cucullate hairy on the outside, fruit size of a nut, purple. Bl. Rump. 1. 172 t. 54. 

 A. saccidora, Dalz. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iii. 231 ; — Wight Icones tab. 1958. A. toxicaria, Hook. Gomp. to Bot. Mag. i. 311 1. 17. 

 Lepurandra saccidora, Nimmo PL of Bombay 193. 



This is the largest tree in our forests ; it is common along all the Western Ghats from Bombay down to Cape Comorin, and is also 

 iound in Ceylon; in the Anamallays it is called Alii, in Bombay Juzoogri, and in Ceylon Ritti. It flowers in the rains and ripens its fruit in Janu- 

 ary. The wood is soft and of no value, the nuts are intensely bitter and contain an azolized principle, which may prove an active medical agent. 

 On wounding the fruit a milky viscid fluid exudes which hardens into a wax-like substance and becomes black and shining ; the inner bark of the 

 tree is composed of very strong tenacious fibres and is adapted for cordage or matting. In Coorg and Wynaad the hill men manufacture sacks 

 from this tree: a branch or trunk is cut corresponding to the length and breadth of the sack required, it is soaked a little, and then beaten with 

 clubs until the fibre separates from the wood; this done the sack formed of the bark is turned inside out and the wood saivn off, leaving a small 

 piece at the bottom of the sack; these sacks are in general use for carrying rice, &c. The male flowers have been described as having 4 stamens 

 each opposite a leaflet of the perianth ; my analysis differs considerably, the stamens being always 5-8. The drawings were, however, made from 

 living flowers collected on the Nilgiris. 



Analysis. 

 The figure represents a branch of the tree, shewing the solitary female flowers and the male flowers collected in dense heads. 



1. Female flower. 



2. Female flower cut vertically, shewing the solitary pendulous ovule. 



3. Young fruit. 



4. The same cut transversely. 

 5 & 6. Seed and embryo. 



7 k 8. Male inflorescence collected in dense heads. 



9. A male flower, 5 stamens on a flat receptacle. 



10. Male flower shewing 6 stamens. 



11. Male flower with 8 stamens. 



12 & 13. Front and back view of the obovate spathulate petals; 



14. Anther, front view. 



15, Anther, back view. The drawings of the branch in flower and the female dissections (1 to 6) communicated by Dr. Thwaites 



(from Ceylon specimens) ; the male dissections (7 to 15) from living specimens collected on the western slopes of tho 

 Nilgiris. 



o\)t 



